Prevention of airborne infection in operating rooms

Abstract

In 1961, it was evident to the late Professor Sir John Charnley, the orthopaedic surgeon who perfected the replacement of the total hip joint, that an aero microbiologically clean zone was required for surgery if wound sepsis was not to come from the airborne route. It was evident to Howorth, who was then invited by Charnley to study the problem, that conventional methods of introducing microbiologically clean air into an operating room from an air-conditioning system or from an industrial type of ventilated ceiling panel, were not able to provide an aeromicrobiologically clean zone for surgery. Chaotic turbulence, convective upcurrents and peripheral entrainment of the large number of bacteria-carrying particles present in the operating room were seen to be the problems to be overcome [1].